Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, during an interview with the Spanish EFE news agency, said that he is ready to normalize relations with Armenia based on the principle of mutual recognition of territorial integrity.

“I am ready to talk to Mr. Pashinyan any time when he is ready,” Aliyev said.

Aliyev said that Baku is ready to immediately start the process of the delimitation of borders, followed by demarcation.

“We also have expressed our willingness to work together with Armenia on a future peace agreement. All these initiatives have been articulated many times by me and other Azerbaijani officials, but unfortunately, Armenia has yet to positively respond,” Aliyev said.

He added that more progress in this direction could have been achieved since the war ended last year.

Aliyev said he was troubled by revanchist statements coming from Armenia’s political establishment hinting at policies seeking to regain territories captured by Azerbaijan during the war.

Aliyev said those territories belong to Azerbaijan, both historically and according to international law.

The Azerbaijani president said the war is over and that Armenia must recognize this fact and now take steps to achieve peace with its neighbor.

When asked about the status of Nagorno Karabakh, Aliyev said that Baku had always talked about the possibility of granting some level of self-governance to Armenians living in Azerbaijan, but successive Armenian governments rejected the proposal during thirty years of Minsk Group negotiations.

“They were always demanding independence for what they called Nagorno Karabakh. Today, after the war has ended and the conflict resolved, and this isn’t only my position but that of most of the international community, there is no room to talk about any status for that so-called entity that does not exist,” Aliyev said.

He said that there is no administrative unit in Azerbaijan called Nagorno Karabakh.

Aliyev said the 25,000 Armenians living in that part of Karabakh supervised by Russian peacekeepers are citizens of Azerbaijan and will “enjoy the full rights and responsibilities as other Azerbaijani citizens.”

“To put it concisely, there is no status, no going back, and everyone should understand this,” Aliyev said.

Aliyev demanded that Armenia hand over maps of minefields in Karabakh.

“They mined everything. We need those minefield areas. They have such maps. If they do, if they show goodwill. We will respond in kind,” Aliyev said.

Aliyev said that Baku has returned all Armenians captured during the war, but that it still holds 62 Armenians who went to Karabakh to fight after the November 9 tripartite statement was signed. He said that these individuals cannot be considered POWs.

Photo: archive / Kremlin press service